Abstract
The chemical, bioactive, and antioxidant potential of twenty wild culinary mushroom species being consumed by the people of northern Himalayan regions has been evaluated for the first time in the present study. Nutrients analyzed include protein, crude fat, fibres, carbohydrates, and monosaccharides. Besides, preliminary study on the detection of toxic compounds was done on these species. Bioactive compounds evaluated are fatty acids, amino acids, tocopherol content, carotenoids (β-carotene, lycopene), flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and anthocyanidins. Fruitbodies extract of all the species was tested for different types of antioxidant assays. Although differences were observed in the net values of individual species all the species were found to be rich in protein, and carbohydrates and low in fat. Glucose was found to be the major monosaccharide. Predominance of UFA (65-70%) over SFA (30-35%) was observed in all the species with considerable amounts of other bioactive compounds. All the species showed higher effectiveness for antioxidant capacities.